82 Madeira Consorcio Meeting 13.7.2016

Jul 17, 2016 at 11:38 am | Posted in Posts | Leave a comment
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

 

Visit to the “Escola da Semente”

The Escola is run by “Germinar – Associação sem fins lucrativos”

The Escola is based on the fact that Portugal allowed home schooling in the 1970’s The Secretary of Education is aware of the project and endorsed the project.

There are several projects like this in the country, and the Escola is well-linked with these other projects. There is a good information exchange under the umbrella of “Rede da Educação Viva”(http://www.educacaoviva.pt/) This national Network is proposing changes to the Government to adapt the regular education system to this form of learning,

Teachers in the “regular” system are also unhappy about the work they have to do. They can use the options of “Ilha Verde” (http://pt.blastingnews.com/madeira/2015/03/ilha-verde-educacao-em-liberdade-celebra-um-ano-fantastico-00307129.html ), an initiative which provides training for teachers for alternative education (promover a educação holística, transformadora e integral).

The Escola It is based on the initiative of parents (formerly a “Grupo de Walldorf”) who created the association (also to deal with the Secretária de Educação). The parents are responsible for the education, they cannot abdicate this responsibility to the Tutors. The parents provide the organic food or ingredients and have to do the cleaning. Every two weeks, the whole group has meetings to inform and keep things on course.

The Escola is situated in  Funchal. They have there a good sized garden and a house with resting room, “school” room (with  blackboard painted on the wall) and kitchen, also some animals and a herb garden.

At this time, the Escola accommodates 9 children aged 5 – 10. They always have two adults there, so the ratio is 1:4

It started as ATL (Activities after school) ; the two children who came from a public school were confused in the beginning, now they have adapted well to their new freedom.

The Escola opens around 8,45h and is available until around 18,30h

The school was open all year last year but this year, the Tutors will take holidays in August.

They have many outings, such as theatre visits and excursions, to expose the children to the “real world”.

The activities depend on the persons who are available. The Potter teaches the children to work with natural materials, singers might come by and painters, to teach the children what they are interested in. The parents are heavily involved in the Escola, they have two Tutors. Cr.is partly being paid be the Secretária de Educação. The Escola’s income (school fees and donations) and costs are transparent to the participants, they are published in an Excel sheet so all parents can at any time who pays what and how the money is being spent.  The Tutors are organizing “festas” to obtain funds.

The project exists since one year.

The daily life:

Free play, then storytelling, singing, working in the herb garden, tending the animals, yoga, work with materials, depending on who comes in to teach a craft. By the by, the children learn math, physics and chemistry, also Portuguese. The children are not exposed to new technologies in the Escola, they (may) get this art home.

 

What is needed:

  • More openness connection into the community
  • Fundraising
  • More have more children and parents
  • Donations of money and natural materials
  • Crowdfunding or other sources of income to pay the teachers, food and materials
  • Mission statement
  • Website/Blog

 

Advertisement

Madeira Consorcio meeting 26.8.2012

Aug 26, 2012 at 4:45 pm | Posted in Posts | Leave a comment
Tags: , , , , , ,
English: Stevia rebaudiana foliage

English: Stevia rebaudiana foliage (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Madeira Consorcio meeting 26.8.2012 English version below

Tivemos uma troca interessante, também com alguns novos membros.

Nós provamos um azeite espanhol, misturado com limão. Este é um exemplo de um produto, vem em garrafas pequenas, uma boa lembrança, e é vendido, junto com muitos outros óleos, no internet.
Esmeralda nos trouxe folhas de estévia, a substituição de açúcar entrar em moda no momento.

Agricultura:
Ursula informou sobre os contatos com duas empresas alemãs que são de interesse em plantas aromáticas secas e fibras para produtos de plástico.

Um membro destacou que a maior vantagem que os espanhóis têm mais de Portugal é que eles sabem como distribuir bens. Eles podem ter frutos de baixa qualidade, mas são muito bons em vender tem toda a Europa.

Parte do grupo visitou o lugar estufa de Nelson no sábado. Foi uma troca muito interessante e um boa experiência! Nós aprendemos sobre a sua maneira de compostagem e como construir paredes de flores, e encontramos uma infinidade de sementes, frutos e plantas.

Negócio em Geral:

Devemos explorar os básicos dos projectos do Gonçalo: para ver os problemas e como podemos superá-los.

Temos de discutir o cambio tempo / crédito. Poderiamos testar esse intercâmbio dentro do grupo, e depois aumentá-la.

O grupo já atingiu um bom tamanho, temos uma lista de membros ativos do grupo e também alguns adeptos, que devido a uma série de viagens, não podem participar frequentemente nas reuniões, mas podem ser chamados a ajuda quando se trata de investimentos e impostos,

Portanto, falávamos sobre a necessidade de formar uma entidade, para ser capaz de ir a público com nossas idéias e apresentar um rosto adequado ao público.
A partir de outubro, vamos dividir os grupos em dois: O grupo Agricultura continuará nàs quintas-feiras, e o Negócio em Geral e grupo de Turismo vai reunir-se em outro momento. Desta forma, cada grupo pode se concentrar melhor em sua área

Madeira Consorcio Meeting Minutes 23.8.2012

We had an interesting exchange, also with some new members.

We tasted Spanish olive oil, pressed together with lemon. This is an example of a good product, it comes in small bottles, good as a souvenir, and is sold, together with many other oils, sold on the internet.

Esmeralda brought us Stevia leaves to taste, the sugar replacement coming into fashion at the moment.

Agriculture:

Ursula reported on the contacts with two German companies who are interest in dried aromatic herbs and fibers for plastic products.

Dennis pointed out that the biggest advantage the Spaniards have over Portugal is that they know how to distribute goods. They may have low quality fruit but they are very good at selling all over Europe

Part of the group visited Nelson’s hothouse place on Saturday. It was a very interesting exchange and experience! We learned about his way of composting and how to build flower walls, and we encountered a multitude of seeds, fruits and plants.

Business In General:

We should explore the basics for Gonçalo`s projects to see where the problems lie and how we can overcome them.

We need to discuss the time/credit exchange. We could test such an exchange within the group, and then enlarge it.

Upcoming changes in the structure:

The group now has reached a good size, we have a list of active group members and also some adherents who due to a lot of travel, cannot participate often in the meetings but can be called upon to help when it comes to investment and taxes,

As of October, we shall split the groups in two: The Agriculture group will continue to meet on Thursdays, and the Business in General & Tourism group will meet at another time. This way, each group can focus better on its area.

Blog at WordPress.com.
Entries and Comments feeds.